The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade has fixed a floor price for import of ‘broken’ and ‘whole’ cashew kernels. This is likely to provide the cashew industry relief from increasing shipments into the country over the last few years.
In a recent notification, the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade fixed the minimum price for import of ‘broken’ cashew kernels at Rs 288, and ‘whole’ cashew kernels at Rs 400 a kg. (1RS= $0.162 USD)
Walter D’Souza, Chairman of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (southern region) and an exporter, told Business Line that India has emerged as the single largest consumer of cashew kernels besides being the largest producer and importer of raw cashewnuts.
Processing units in the country convert raw cashewnut into cashew kernels. These kernels are graded as ‘brokens’ and ‘wholes’. While the ‘wholes’ are exported and consumed in domestic market, the ‘brokens’ are used in various domestic food items.
For Indian traders, imported cashew kernels – ‘brokens’ in particular – are attractive in terms of the return on investment, he said.
K. Pramod Kamath, Member of the Executive Committee of Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers’ Association, said that the association had pioneered efforts against unethical undervalued imports of cashew kernels more than three years ago.
Cashew processing units have seen prices of ‘brokens’ drop over the last three years. On an average, the price has decreased by over 20 per cent, he said.
Stating that the import of cashew kernels was unheard of seven years ago, G. Giridhar Prabhu, Proprietor of Achal Industries (cashew processor and exporter), said the import had a huge impact on the competitiveness in the market.
